Vegan Avocado Pasta Salad

This vegan avocado pasta salad is a quick 15-minute recipe that can be prepped ahead and great to take along to a picnic, barbecue, potluck or as an easy weeknight dinner. This no-mayo pasta salad is deliciously creamy and packed full of fresh veggies.

Summer’s coming and there’s nothing better than a cool, refreshing vegan pasta salad. I’ve got a potluck coming up this weekend and had to come up with a delicious and healthy recipe to share with a large group – enter vegan avocado pasta salad!

Pasta salad isn’t usually the healthiest recipe with all that mayo (even vegan mayo), so I wanted to make this a no-oil-added pasta salad by replacing the mayo in the dressing with the healthy fat of avocado. I added flavour to the dressing with dill and horseradish – one of my favourite combinations that you’ll also find in my super delicious baked beet falafel vegan quinoa bowls.

Of course you can totally adapt the avocado dressing to your tastes. If you don’t like horseradish, use Dijon mustard or a squeeze of lemon or lime. If you don’t like dill, try a small bunch of fresh basil or cilantro. A sprinkling of nutritional yeast if you’ve got it adds great umami flavour to this vegan avocado pasta salad.

Now, if you’ve seen my roundup of 50 vegan high-protein salads, you’ll know that I always like to make sure that I have a bit of protein in my salads. That’s why I threw in some chickpeas in addition to all the veggies. The help to bulk up the salad and also make it more filling (and they’re tasty too!).

The choice of vegetables is totally up to you, too. Try to buy what’s on sale and seasonal. I get a great price on peppers so I always add those. Cherry tomatoes and cucumbers are also starting to get cheaper at this time of year so those went in too. Use what you like and have on hand!

Got leftovers from this avocado pasta salad? Use them in these recipes:

Instructions

1

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and set aside to cool.

2

Combine the avocado, water, garlic, horseradish, dill, salt and pepper in a blender or food processor.

3

Toss together the cooled pasta with the remaining ingredients and the avocado sauce. Taste and adjust the seasonings, if necessary. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve. It keeps for a couple of days in the fridge. Sprinkle over some nutritional yeast before serving if desired.

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